Tim Cook: the Apple Watch is the first smartwatch that matters

Apple boss fires shots at competitors

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Apple CEO Tim Cook believes the upcoming Apple Watch will be the only smartwatch of significance.

The claims were made in a wide-ranging interview he gave to the Fast Company, where the Apple boss stated that just because the Cupertino company wasn't the first to create a smartwatch, it doesn't mean it won't be the best.

"We weren't first on the MP3 player; we weren't first on the tablet; we weren't first on the smartphone. But we were arguably the first modern smartphone, and we will be the first modern smartwatch - the first one that matters."

So what will set the Apple Watch apart from its competitors? According to Cook it's all about how Apple has rethought how its customers will interact with their watch.

"You're working with a small screen, so you have to invent new ways for input... Most of the companies who have done smartwatches haven't thought that through, so they're still using pinch-to-zoom and other gestures that we created for the iPhone".

It's more big talk from Cook, but we'll reserve judgement until the finished product is finally on our wrist.

Shots fired!

You might have noticed the little dig Cook slipped in at the end, and that wasn't the only time the Apple CEO turned fire on Apple's competitors, especially Microsoft, which Cook views as unable to combine hardware, software and services, to make an appealing product - something he terms "collaboration".

"Without collaboration, you get a Windows product. There's a company that pumps out an operating system, another that does some hardware, and yet another that does something else. That's what's now happening in Android land.

"Put it all together and it doesn't score high on the user experience."

Back to Jobs again

Cook also talked about Steve Job's legacy, both in regards to Apple, and to himself. "He's not given credit as a teacher," said Cook, "but he's the best teacher I ever had by far. There was nothing traditional about him as a teacher. But he was the best. He was the absolute best."

Although Apple is still heavily influenced by the legacy of Jobs (the company still keeps his office untouched and his name on the door), Cook said that Apple is able to move on, something that Jobs himself would approve of.

"We change every day. We changed every day when he was here, and we've been changing every day since he's not been here. But the values in the core remain the same as they were. [There] may be things we say that we may feel totally different about in a week...

"Steve was the best flipper in the world. And it's because he didn't get married to any one position, one view. He was married to the philosophy, the values."